Brave Beginnings

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “She could be. I’d guess Chogan is in immediate danger if Ernest is coming for her though,” he replied, his disappointment with the chief forgotten. “Where did Julia and Chogan go?”

  “I will take you,” someone said behind him.

  He turned to see the young man who had argued on his behalf to the chief.

  The young man approached the woman. “You stay here with your family. Tell me where they went, and I will take this man to them.”

  The woman seemed ready to argue when her friend touched her arm and spoke to her in Mandan.

  The woman replied to her before she looked back at Conrad and the man. “Fine. I will tell you.”

  “Thank you. Both,” Conrad told the two, relieved. Maybe now, he could bring Ernest to justice, something that was long overdue.

  ~~********~~

  Chapter 35

  That evening, Julia stared at the rundown shack Ernest had taken her to. The moon outlined the place, emphasizing that someone had abandoned it long ago. From the distance where she sat in the buggy, she couldn’t make out who Ernest was talking to in the doorway.

  She glanced around the vacant prairie. Except for the small barn that had seen better days, a lone horse tied to a nearby tree, and the two men talking by the old shack, there was nothing and no one. They were as far from others as they could get because she hadn’t seen another human being for a good hour.

  Her shoulders slumped as she leaned forward to gather her clean clothes. With a trembling hand, she felt beneath the collar of her blouse and touched the necklace Woape made for her. Chogan would come for her. He had to. She felt it in her heart. If she could get away, he’d find her sooner. She blinked back some tears and eased out of the buggy. Her body felt stiff, even though Ernest had relented and let her stop two more times to relieve her bladder where she faithfully put up two more markers for Chogan to find.

  She glanced at Ernest and the man. Both had their backs turned to her. Bending down, she slowly ripped another portion of her petticoat. She looked back at them. They didn’t notice what she was doing. Who knew when she’d get another chance? Taking a cautious breath, she stepped toward the tree and saw they were still talking, oblivious to her. Perhaps Ernest figured he had her in a spot where she couldn’t run off and let his guard down. He’d been careful to watch her before.

  When she reached the tree, she chose a branch that was away from the shack and quickly tied the fabric there. She released her breath and moved forward in time for Ernest to turn to her. She stopped. Would he guess she’d been at the tree? It wasn’t that far from her.

  “You need the privy more than anyone I’ve ever known,” Ernest called out. “Come along. Now that you’ve done your business, we can get settled for the night.”

  Her eyes grew wide as she clutched the clothes to her chest. He didn’t intend to…? She couldn’t finish the thought. It was too horrible to contemplate. She couldn’t be with another man the way she’d been with Chogan. There was just no way that was going to happen!

  With an exasperated sigh that echoed through the still night, Ernest marched over to her and took her by the elbow. “I’m exhausted. I need rest before we head out tomorrow.”

  “But…” She gulped and dug her heels into the ground.

  “Why are you being so difficult?” he demanded, a frown on his face. “That Injun is dead by now. You have nothing to go back for.”

  You’re wrong. He’s alive. I can feel it. He’ll come for me, and when he does, you’ll be sorry. Biting her tongue on the reply, she swallowed and cleared her throat. “I can’t…I just can’t be with you, in that way. It isn’t right.”

  He paused for a moment in confusion and then his eyes lit up with understanding. “Oh. Well, of course not. Not as long as you have that savage little beast growing in your womb. I know all about your pregnancy. Until that parasite is out of you and in the ground, I’m not touching you that way.”

  “You’re not harming my child,” she snapped and pulled away from him.

  “It’s not a child. Injuns and their ilk don’t have souls.” He grabbed her arm and forced her forward. “This isn’t up for discussion. You polluted your body with that Injun, and we’ll have to deal with the consequence when the time comes. But the time’s not tonight, so you can rest assured your soiled body will be untouched by me.”

  She dug her boot’s heel into the moist dirt. “No! I will not go with you anymore!”

  Dropping her clothes, she made a fist and hit his arm, hoping he’d let her go. But he didn’t. He gave her a hard slap across the face with his free hand. The impact made her head spin so she stopped hitting him.

  “The devil has had his way with you,” Ernest hissed. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You needed to get out of that godforsaken tribe.” He bent down to pick the clothes up and renewed his grip on her arm. “This is best for you, Julia. You’re a white woman, and it’s time to remember that.” He eyed her braids. “We’ll start with these.” He threw the clothes back on the ground and pulled on her hair.

  “Stop it! You’re hurting me!” she cried as he roughly loosened her braids.

  “You will not wear your hair like this!” he barked, his actions more aggressive. “You are a lady, Julia Milton. It’s time you acted like one!” When he was done, he shoved her away.

  She stood still, rubbing her head which was sore. She couldn’t decide which hurt more: her head or his words. Chogan wasn’t an animal and her child wasn’t a beast!

  His face stern, Ernest picked up the clothes again and shoved them at her. He picked her up and carried her toward the shack.

  “Let me go,” she pleaded, unable to stop herself from sobbing. “Please let me go home.”

  “Your home is with me,” he replied, his tone firm as he stared straight ahead.

  “Sir?” someone called out.

  He paused and turned to the man.

  Remembering they weren’t alone, she looked at the other person. Noah! In her shock, she stopped crying.

  Ernest shifted her so that she was pressed up against his chest and held out a free hand. “Give me the train tickets.”

  Noah glanced from her to Ernest, and she sensed the hesitation in his gaze. Gathering her newfound strength, she turned her head to get a better look at him. “Noah, please help me. I don’t want to be here. Ernest killed Sarita and he left Chogan for dead. I—”

  “Enough!” Ernest yelled in her ear.

  She winced.

  “Give me the tickets,” Ernest ordered. “We need to leave Jamestown before they figure out where I went! As it is, the lovely trip to get my bride has delayed me a good day’s worth of travel.”

  His bride? Julia felt bile rise in her throat.

  Noah shook his head. “She doesn’t want to be with you.”

  “I’m not paying you to give me your opinion,” Ernest replied. ‘I’m paying you to do what I say. Now hand me the tickets!”

  The silence that followed the command ran thick with tension. She held her breath and prayed Noah would make Ernest stop so that she could get away. But he didn’t. He handed Ernest the tickets and stepped away from them.

  “Noah!” She wiggled to get a better look at the pale man who kept backing up. “Noah, you can’t leave me here!”

  Ernest set her down but held onto her arm so she couldn’t get away from him. When she realized he was pulling a gun from the holster under his suit jacket, she screamed and kicked at him. Noah bolted for the horse as Ernest struggled to level the gun while she fought against him. Ernest pulled the trigger and Noah’s hat flew off his head.

  Ernest shoved her away and steadied his gun while Noah freed the horse from the post. She rushed forward and rammed into Ernest, knocking him to the ground as she toppled over him. He misfired again and cursed.

  “Get away from me, Julia!” He snarled and hit her with the butt of the gun.

  She rolled away from him, the side of her face throbbing in pain. She heard another gunshot rin
g through the air but saw Noah heading off on his horse. Panting, she waited and watched while Ernest shot another three rounds. She dug her fingers into the ground and prayed Noah would make it. Maybe Noah would tell someone where Ernest had taken her. Maybe. She recognized the fear and sympathy in his eyes. There was hope.

  Ernest grunted and turned back to her. He picked up her clothes and yanked her to her feet. “That wasn’t smart, Julia. I planned long and hard for this, and you’re liable to have ruined everything.”

  Good! She wanted to scream it but didn’t, figuring it was wiser to keep quiet.

  He dragged her into the shack and pushed her into a chair. Then he dumped the clothes on the wobbly table and dug into his pocket to retrieve a match.

  Her head hurt from where he’d hit her with the gun and from where he pulled her hair. She touched the side of her face and winced. No doubt there would be bruising close to her eye. Running her fingers along her scalp, she massaged the area until the pain ebbed. Finally, she pulled her hair back into a bun and knotted it. When she put her hands down, she realized Ernest was smiling at her.

  “There you go,” he said with a nod. “You’re starting to look like a white woman already.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, unable to properly stomach the satisfied look in his eyes. The man was a monster. She had to get away from him.

  “You can sleep in here tonight,” he said as he motioned to the small room to the side of the main one. “I had Noah set out blankets to make you comfortable. I will sleep out here.”

  She didn’t move until he waved her forward. Gulping, she walked forward and entered the room that was barely big enough for a bed and a dresser. She took in the sagging roof and brittle wood walls.

  “It’s not ideal, I admit,” Ernest said in a smooth tone.

  She whirled around to face him, her arms crossed—not because she was angry but because she felt trapped and feared what he’d do next. Did he mean it when he said he wouldn’t touch her? She was alone with him, and even if she fought him, she couldn’t stop whatever he wanted to do to her.

  Ernest shrugged and smiled. “No worries though. Soon enough, you’ll have everything money can buy. I took plenty.”

  She stared at him, unsure of what to say, but then he shut the door and she was left alone in the dark. The only light in the room came from the small window. She went to it and saw that Ernest had left the shack so he could tend to the horse. Returning to the door, she tested it to make sure it was sturdy, and it was. Good. It was a nice barrier between him and her.

  With a long sigh, she slid to the floor, suddenly realizing it was made of dirt. The ground. She was sitting on the ground. Too exhausted to care, she crawled over to the blankets and wrapped one around her. In a few minutes, maybe she would know what to do next.

  ***

  Chogan dreamt of things that made his blood turn cold. Ernest was with Julia, and he was forcing her skirt up. The dream came in snippets with little coherency, but Chogan knew Ernest was raping her and she cried out for Chogan to stop him.

  Chogan’s eyes flew open. Darkness hovered over him, and he winced as he became aware of a campfire nearby. Julia. I have to get to her. Despite the pain in his shoulder and chest, he rolled onto his side and pulled himself to his feet. The world around him swayed and he fell. He landed on his hands and knees, gasping as the sharp pain pierced his wounds. Pressing one hand to the bandage over his ribs, he got back to his feet and stumbled forward.

  The land around him shifted, but he maintained enough balance to find a horse resting by a tree. He swallowed, his throat dry and heart racing. He knew he was in no shape to ride a horse, but he had to get to Julia. And when he did, he’d kill Ernest with his bare hands for what he was doing to her.

  Panting, Chogan untied the horse and stumbled against the animal that snorted and shifted away from him. He grabbed onto the mane and waited until everything stopped spinning around him. Julia left clues. All he had to do was find the petticoat trail and he’d find her. He had no idea how far he’d gotten, but she wasn’t anywhere nearby and he had to get to her before Ernest did any more damage.

  Gripping the horse’s mane, Chogan strained to pull himself up onto the animal. As soon as the horse moved forward, Chogan lost his balance and fell to the ground. No. He winced and reached for the horse. His hand wrapped around the animal’s leg. Good. It didn’t run off. He blinked back the sweat that dripped into his eyes and tried to stand up, but someone grabbed him from behind and swore.

  “I can’t believe it,” the man muttered.

  Chogan recognized Gary’s voice, though it seemed distorted. He attempted to get away from Gary as Gary lugged him back to the campfire, but the stars and moon swam in circles above him and before he knew it, everything went black.

  Gary grunted as he dragged Chogan back to the bedroll.

  “Let me help!” someone called out.

  Gary glanced at the man who hurried over to him. “He’s heavy,” Gary warned, too grateful for the help to wonder who this stranger was. “He won’t stay still, but he needs to heal. He’s been shot.”

  “Got any rope?” the stranger called out to someone else.

  Gary peered into the darkness and saw Citlali gathering a blanket full of items. “What are you doing here? And who are you?” he asked the stranger.

  The stranger checked Chogan’s wounds as he answered, “I’m Detective Conrad Williams, and I’ve been sent to watch Ernest Freeman.”

  “Ernest? Why?” Of all things, this was the last thing Gary expected.

  Citlali knelt by them and unraveled the blanket.

  Conrad sighed. “Bullet wounds.” He looked up at Gary. “You got the bullets out?”

  “Yes,” Gary replied. “I sewed him up too. Will you tell me what Ernest has to do with this?”

  Conrad held his hand to Citlali. “I need something to soak up this fresh blood. We’ll get new bandages and something to help with the fever. The poor man is burning up.”

  Gary forced aside his rising frustration so Citlali could help Conrad tend to Chogan’s wounds. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  Conrad removed the old bandages and mopped up the blood seeping from the stitches Gary had carefully sewn earlier that day. “Did you know Ernest Freeman was married when he lived in Fargo?”

  Gary’s eyes grew wide. “No.”

  “He was. The woman he married looked almost like your sister. I didn’t see the resemblance at first. Julia seemed familiar, but it wasn’t until Ernest went missing from Bismarck and I found a picture of his first wife in the cellar that the pieces fit. Ernest is obsessed with your sister.”

  “But his parents never mentioned that he had a wife. Julia would have told me if they did,” Gary said.

  Conrad shrugged. “That I can’t explain. Maybe Ernest’s story of his wife running off and leaving him for another man gave them reason to not mention it to anyone. I haven’t contacted his parents in case I aroused Ernest’s suspicions to find out what they know. You can be sure I’ll look into it after Ernest is taken care of.”

  Citlali put some alcohol onto a rag and handed the rag to Conrad.

  Conrad placed the rag on the wounds to clean them off. “Ernest ran off with a large sum of money and headed out this way. My guess is he had an accomplice.”

  “Sarita?” Gary glanced at Citlali.

  “She was one,” Citlali replied.

  “And the other?” Gary asked Conrad.

  Conrad shrugged. “That’s hard to say. I suspect the sheriff and reporters will handle that part. My job is to find Ernest. How well do you know him?”

  “I don’t. Not really,” Gary said. “He courted my sister when I was a kid.”

  “Well, I need to find him, and the sooner, the better.” Conrad handed the rag back to Citlali so he could place fresh bandages on Chogan. “It’s possible that Ernest will kill Julia if she doesn’t play his game. That’s what happened to his wife. Her father said Ernest was
particular about the way she styled her hair and what she wore and how she decorated the house. Everything had to be done a certain way or he’d get upset. One day, he snapped and killed her. We never found the body, but I finally got the murder weapon.”

  Gary swallowed the lump in his throat. “Which was?”

  “An axe.”

  “An axe?” He glanced at Chogan and thought of Sarita. “Why didn’t he just use a gun?”

  “Good question,” Conrad said. “As far as I can tell, there’s only one reason to have an axe.”

  Gary shivered. “You think he cut her up?”

  “It’s easier to transport a body and bury it that way, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never tried it.”

  Conrad finished taking care of Chogan and took a deep breath. “I need to continue on this trail of breadcrumbs your sister left.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Gary said. “She’s my sister, and I need to make sure she’s alright.”

  “Someone needs to watch Chogan,” Conrad replied. “Preferably to keep him tied down. I’ve never seen a man more determined to get somewhere.”

  “I will stay with Chogan,” Citlali said. “You two go on ahead. When he is well enough, we will follow. I have medicine to speed up the healing and to sedate him. You don’t need to tie him down.”

  Conrad turned to Gary.

  Gary nodded. “I woke up to find Chogan trying to ride off on my horse. I’m wide awake. We might as well head off now. The moon is bright enough.”

  “Let’s go.” Conrad agreed.

  Without further words, the two men gathered enough supplies to get them through the next few days, careful to leave enough for Chogan and Citlali.

  ~~********~~

  Chapter 36

  Julia checked the distance between the shack and the barn where Ernest put the horse and buggy. If she could get out of her room, she might be able to get out of here. She knew how to hook the horse up and could ride out. Without a horse, Ernest wouldn’t be able to catch up to her.